This article was first published in 2015, and still relevant today.
Education and care is changing. Quality education and care is no longer rigid, inflexible and bound by Kilometres of red tape. It is now flexible, innovative, adaptive, responsive. This is taking some getting used to, but it's so super exciting.
Take this photo, for example. It broke the internet when I posted it on Facebook in September 2015 after visiting an awesome educator, Shar Abel, at a service where I had been coaching. Within three days, 50 000 educators had viewed, liked, and shared this photo. I still see it today, printed and pinned to vision boards all over the country.
What is it about this pic that attracted all that staff room conversation? My guess - it was challenging the norm. It stands for 'Anything is possible'. It broke routines embedded in traditional practices in education and care for decades. It says 'I respect children enough to put them first' (the dishes did not get done at rest time on this day, and that was ok).
It says 'it's ok to think outside the box'. It shows that the educators are trusted in their professionalism to make decisions for children. It challenges us to think, 'what else could we do differently?'.
Education and care in Australia is the coolest place to work right now. I love it. I am blessed to work alongside incredible, brave, creative, caring, dynamic education and advocate for children.
To all educators who smiled on the inside when they say this photo before they assessed the risks. Thank you for being you.
Kindest Regards,
Sandi Phoenix